Enlightened Thinkers
Women of the Enlightenment There were three main enlightened women, Madame Geoffin, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Olympe de Gouges. Madame Geoffin hosted imformal parties in salons for polititions,writers, artists, princes, and philosophers to talk about controversial ideas that they don't want to be heard in public. Ms. Geoffin also provided financial support for encyclopediests. Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer who published an essay about women's rights in 1792 and believed that eduacation was important to getting freedom and equality for woman. Olympe de Gouges was also a writer and a social reformer that published the Declaration of Women's Rights in 1791. John Locke-Natural Rights John Locke was an English philosopher, and one of the first enlightened thinkers. His biggest belief was that all people had natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He believed that the governments job was to protect these rights. The idea was extremely important in the laws of the United States and France, afer their revolutions, and are now used in many countries around the world. Another belief was that a governemnt had a contract with the people to govern well, and if they didn't, they could be overthrown. Locke's ideas greatly influenced modern societies, and changed his time. Baron de Montesquieu-Seperation of Power Montesquieu was a French lawyer that believed that government should be divided into three branches to prevent it from becoming to powerful. One branch for making laws, one for enforcing the law, and the third to interpret them. Montesquieu also wrote two books about his ideas called ''Persion Letters ''and ''The Spirit of the Laws. ''His ideas about seperation of government powers were used in the U.S. Constitution. Voltaire-Freedom of Speech and Religion Voltaire was a French philosopher and writer. His major beliefs were that everyone should be free to speak, as long as it didn't bother others' rights, and that everyone should be allowed to follow whatever religion they wanted. He also believed that government should be based on law and not controlled by one man. These ideas were controversial, and he was arrested multiple times, but eventually caught on. Today in many countries, these ideas are the most important and commonly used rights. Cesare Beccaria-Fair Trials for All Beccaria was an Italian thinker during the Enlightenment. He created many ideas about crime and punishment that are still in use today. The most important idea was that all people that are accused should deserve to have a quick and fair trial, no matter how rich or powerful they were. He also believed that the punishment should fit the crime, and that all people should get the same punishment for the same crime. These beliefs are important to modern day society and are a part of the U.S. Constitution. He also was against torture and the death penalty, which are still debated today even in the United States. Beccaria's philosophies dramatically changed law and the justice system. Enlightened Despots Some rulers that were influenced by enlightened thinkers, were Joseph II of Austria, Frederick the Great of Prussia, and Catherine the Great of Russia. They allowed freedom of speech and religion, improved education, and abolished serfdom. They also got rid of torture and the death penalty.